Portions of two commentaries on Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” come to my mind frequently.
When Wu Ch’i fought against Ch’in, there was an officer who before battle was joined was unable to control his ardour. He advanced and took a pair of heads and returned. Wu Ch’i ordered him beheaded. The Army Commissioner admonished him, saying: ‘This is a talented officer; you should not behead him.’ Wu Ch’i replied: ‘I am confident he is an officer of talent, but he is disobedient.’ Thereupon he beheaded him. (Part of comments on Chapter VII verse 18.)
The orders of a sovereign, although they should be followed, are not to be followed if the general knows they contain the dangers of harmful superintendence of affairs from the capital. (Part of comments on Chapter VIII verse 11.)
One of the joys of leadership is surely the experience of people following you willingly and joyfully to harvest the fruits of your working together. This is where obedience is far superior to mere compliance, even though compliance can look very much like obedience in some cases. When people follow detailed and clear instructions for any given task, perhaps in completing all the necessary paperwork when one has closed a sale of a financial product, that is compliance. When someone who should and does know better sells financial products far in excess of what the client needs or wants, he is outwardly compliant but egregiously exploitative. Sellers of financial products are obedient to the financial organization’s mission if they diligently examine what the client needs and propose portfolios which will enhance the client’s financial well-being. Those portfolios may change as time and circumstance dictate, but they will be in the CLIENT’s interests primarily and not because the seller desires to enrich himself as quickly as possible. I mention sellers of financial products because someone was recently complaining about how her financial advisor had acted in ways completely out of her own interest and definitely in the long run against his own. Terminating one or a few of your client’s policies and then using the money to buy what she did not order might make you money in the short run, but if your organization has people above you who are like Wu Ch’i in the quote above, you will have very short shrift. Outward compliance to your Constitution or Mission statement is common. In its early days, INTEL sold chips knowing that the said chips were defective and would cause massive problems for users. When users complained about the chips, INTEL repeatedly said that they were working all right. INTEL did so because it was completing design and production of the next set of chips and wanted to sell them so users would happily forgive and forget and continue their operations using the newer chips. America today accuses China of theft of intellectual property. I have never understood what intellectual property actually is. I remember being baffled when asked to enter into a joint venture with another person in the human development sphere, and being told that “You keep your IP, I’ll keep mine.” Isn’t IP what lies between your ears and which you apply so that others benefit and keep sharing and applying still more so that more people benefit? America needs to remember that the entire thriving cotton mill industry owed its existence to someone called Samuel Slater, who had memorized details of the innovative machines and processes that Britain tried to keep secret. Was Samuel Slater disobedient to British law? Of course. Even though Slater covertly became an American citizen and then started to construct mills based on what he had memorized, he was disobedient to the spirit of British law, as selfish and short-sighted as that law happened to be. Was that law in the long-term interests of Britain? Absolutely not! History shows us that all rising powers engage in theft of intellectual property. That same theft will stop when that power reaches the level where it is able to maintain a degree of innovation and level of civic maturity to continue prospering on its own, without having a need to steal from others. Would it not be in everyone’s interest to share good things so that others can grow, continue to grow ourselves and continue to do business at increasing levels of value reciprocity? But no. Human nature is such that we continue to trumpet our complete compliance with constitutions and mission statements while egregiously doing the exact opposite. We will do far better if we are obedient to a higher purpose. For me, that is obedience to the Living God. If you don’t want to think about God or obey Him, then at least strive to contribute towards human flourishing. Read those quotes above again and ask yourself how you would apply them in real life, not simply an academic exercise, which, by the way, is actually an oxymoron when you ponder it. The same thing goes for expressions like “Thought experiment,” which is in effect simply thinking through whatever it is you happen to be working on or grappling with at the time.
Before the next post, would you like to take the quote below and write an essay of between 2,500 and 3,000 words expressing your thoughts? Use examples from history or current affairs, if you will.
Benevolence and righteousness may be used to govern a state but cannot be used to administer an army. Expediency and flexibility are used in administering an army, but cannot be used in governing a state. (Part of comments on Chapter III verse 21.)
Do it on your own. If you would like me to give inputs and discuss your essay, that can be done as well, for a fee of course. Contact me if you would like to have that. You’re welcome!
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